Automatic machine for manufacturing footwear



G. PISARONI 3,445,872 AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURiNG FOOTWEAR May 27, 1969- Sheet brz Filed Jan. 9. 1967 a a 2 g 5 Q,

GIUSEPPE PISARONI BY vww ATTORNEYS May 27, 1969 e. PISARONI 3. 3

AUTOMATIC MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING FOOTWEAR Filed Jan. 9, 1967 Sheet n? l I 26 v 27. L 155 i INVENTOR GII/SEPPE PIsARaNI ATTORNEYS United States Patent Oce 3,445,872 Patented May 27, 1969 US. Cl. 12-8.3 18 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The combination in a single shoemaking machine of a front unit to support the shoe for pivotal movement about horizontal and vertical axes, a tool carrier and motor assembly mounted on a forwardly extending horizontal bar on top of the machine for pivotal movement on horizontal and vertical axes, a motor-driven vibrator unit at one side of the machine and a contact and counter unit at each side of the machine.

In the foot industry, flattening or splitting, scraping and drawing or ironing machines are known, each of which performs a single operation, and they generally consist of a fixed rotating tool of cylindrical shape against which the operator brings the footwear assembled on its last and while pressing it against the revolving cylinder he moves the footwear, imparting to it displacements and oscillations required for the operation as also varies the pressure that has to be applied against the tool.

However, to be correctly carried out and in order to obtain the desired results, the three operations require much physical exertion by the operator which has to be exerted repeatedly for each new piece. This brings up various considerations concerning not only the energy spent by the operator and the unequal distribution of forces as in manual work, but also the time factor, the yield as far as speed and quality are concerned, the noise that the machines produce, the need of having three machines with their respective purchasing expenses, maintenance and floor space requirements.

It is an object of this invention to combine in a single machine the three operations for the first two of which a single tool is provided and a pair of tools for the third operation, the first two operations, which are also the most important, being completely automatic.

The machine of the present invention has to be considered essentially as a flattening machine, i.e., a machine for squeezing by pressure and rotation of a tool the folds and the overlapped portions of the uppers limb folded upon the bottom. The tool for carrying out this operation may also have its ribs shaped so as to be able to effect simultaneously both the flattening and scraping operations and also to provide ready replacement of the tool when necessary. The drawing tool consists in a pair of shaped plates and is combined in the same machine with the flattening tool for subsequent use, because after flattening and scraping of the bottom it is necessary to subject the peripheral contour of the footwear to the drawing step to remove small creases or bulges and thoroughly draw the leather both in the convex areas and in the concave areas. This operation which is not tiresome in the least, but which cannot be performed in any other way than manually, can be easily carried out by the operator who is charged with the positioning of the workpieces in the flattening machine, each completed workpiece after having been replaced with another one being passed by the operator to the tools of the drawing machine while the flattening machine automatically machines a new workpiece.

The machine of the present invention comprises in itself two separate devices: a flattening and scraping device and a drawing device, but for the sake of clarity the first one will only be called a flattening device:

(a) The flattening device. comprises in combination: an adjustable support for the footwear with means for locking it while permitting a slight pivoting of it on the longitudinal axis on a pivot that is fixed to said support, and means to rotate it to bring the footwear into two opposite positions, the pivot being mounted on a lever arm provided with a horizontal pivoting means for swinging the whole assembly on a vertical axis. A rotating and pivoting tool is carried by a substantially horizontal bar supported on axes permitting pivoting of the bar in vertical and horizontal planes and supporting a motor at the opposite end of the bar:

(b) The drawing device comprises: a vibrator with two arms carrying two tapered tools at their ends, the tools having curved contours, one concave and the other convex; a fixed box for sliding each of said tools; means for heating said tools.

Turning now to the detailed description of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which an illustrative embodiment is shown by way of example only.

FIGURE 1 shows a side view of the machine;

FIGURE 2 shows a front view of the same;

FIGURES 3, 4 and 5 show details on an enlarged scale of the flattening and scraping tool;

FIGURES 6 and 7 show in vertical section and in a plan view respectively a detail on an enlarged scale of the toe support;

FIGURES 8 and 9 show in a side view and in section respectively a detail of the toe support members;

FIGURE 10 shows a detail in a plan View of the last support;

FIGURE 11 shows a detail in a plan view of the pushbutton device;

FIGURE 12 is a side view on an enlarged scale of the drawing apparatus; and

FIGURES 13, 14 and 15 show details of the two drawing tools in the views opposite to those of FIGURE 12 and in a plan view respectively.

The machine, with reference to FIGURES 1 and 2, is supported by the cabinet 16 to the front of which is attached the horizontal pivot 17 and at each side the fixed upright 19. On the pivot 17 the front unit 20 supporting the footwear C is mounted. At the top of the cabinet the tool carrier and motor assembly 21 is pivoted, the drawing device 22 being mounted on one of the uprights 19.

The front unit pivoted at 17 comprises the lever arm 23 pivotally supported at 17, its lower end being pivotally connected at 24 to the piston rod of the pneumatic cylinder 25, which swings the support 20. At its upper end the arm 23 carries a sleeve 26 in which the pivot 27 is threaded for rotation in the sleeve. The lower uncovered portion 27 of pivot 27 is vertically toothed to form a pinion on which meshes a rack 27" which is attached to the piston rod of cylinder 28 which rotates the pivot 27 180 and then returns it to the initial position. The cylinder 28 is secured on a rear extension 23 of arm 23. The pivot 27 has mounted on it a body 29 which is U-shaped, the shanks 29' and 29" of which carry the supporting members of the wooden last L and the toe of the footwear C, respectively.

The shank 29 supports at its upper end the piece 30 pivoted at 31), and presenting at the top a slot 31 which is V-shaped (FIG. 10) and in which the pivot 32 threaded in the last L is housed, so that the last can pivot in its seat at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the machine. The pivoted piece in turn is actuated by arm 33 to which it is pivoted at 33. A pair of bell-crank levers. 34, at the sides of piece 29 connects the lower end of arm 33 with piston rods 35 of cylinders 35 fixed to the body 29, to swing pivoted piece 30 and to lock the footwear C in position during work.

The shank 29" supports at its upper end the vertical plate 36, the upper edge of which is provided with square toothing 36' and on plate 36 slides a box 37 on which a pawl 38 is mounted to engage toothing 36 to maintain the desired position of box 37 with respect to its support 29" in accordance with the length of the footwear to be machined. The box 37 in addition is provided with a vertical groove seat 39 (FIGS. 6 and 7) in which slides the fiat bar 40 provided at one side with serrations 40 in which is adapted to be inserted a spring pawl which is manipulated from the outside by means of handle 41 to adjust the height of bar 40 with respect to the box 37. At its upper end the bar 40 has an enlarged body 40" (FIGS. 8 and 9) in which a transverse cylindrical seat is provided for a cylindrical insert 41 which can then rotate in said seat and which is provided with an upper longitudinal groove 41' the bottom of which is curved. In this groove is housed the vertical flange 42 of the T-shaped section 42, the edge of the flange being curved to fit the seat. A toe-supporting bearing 43 of elastic material is adhered to the top of this section to support a footwear toe. The section 42' is placed under the action of a push button 44, embedded in piece 40" and which tends in the resting position to maintain the assembly 41-42'-43 outwardly rotated, that means towards the support 30.

The unit 21 is supported by the vertical pivot 45 which is adapted to rotate in the sleeve 46 on top of the housing 16. The pivot 45 has on top of it a fork-shaped enlargement 47 with horizontal pivot 47' for the practically hori zontal bar 48, which can therefore pivot on both of its axes and which at the rear end carries an adjustable hinge 49 to support a motor M. Oscillation of bar 48 in a vertical plane is controlled by the piston rod of cylinder 50 mounted on a bracket 47" on the enlargement 47 and is adjusted by the opposed springs 51. Oscillation of bar 48 in a horizontal direction is restricted and damped within close limits by the presence of small pistons 84 in cylinders 85, mounted upon the bracket 47 in a symmetrical position with respect to the fixed plate 86 attached to the fixed sleeve 46. Such horizontal oscillation, although restricted, is necessary in order to assist in the application of the tool to the bottom of the footwear during machining. The horizontal bar 48, which supports forwardly the toolcarrier assembly, carries at its front end a hollow cylindrical seat 75 in which is positioned a ivot 76 on which a block 77 is mounted. The top of the block 77 carries a platelike member 78, the front portion of which has depending flanges 52' supporting the pivot 53' of tool 53 actuated by pulley connected by belt 60' to motor M. The plate 78 presents on its central longitudinal line a vertical fin 79 which extends forwardly and rearwardly over the horizontal bar 48.

In engagement with end 79' of fin 79 are provided, at right angle and at both sides of the fin, two springs pushbuttons 80 with terminal gaskets, contained in cylinders 81 mounted on the end of horizontal bar 48, the free oscillations of tool 53 according to arrows F being thus restricted and damped through fin 79 by means of said pushbuttons 80. A spontaneous adhesion of the tool to the uneven curve of the sole during displacements is thus obtained, and therefore the abrasive action of same is evenly distributed on the whole of the curve and with the tool periphery always correctly tangential with respect to the curvature of the bottom. In order to ensure that the toe of the shoe will not become accidentally threaded upon the roller, a curved deflector 82 is mounted on an arm 83 on the front end of the fin 79, the deflector being placed at the front of the tool with such an inclination that this tool is always constrained to ride over the bottom of the advancing shoe.

The rotating tool 53 (FIG. 3) is one-pitch hyperboloidshaped and has helical ribs 61 on its surface arranged symmetrically with respect to the transverse central plane 53 of the tool, the ribs evolving leftwardly at the right-hand side and rightwardly at the left-hand side looking at FIG- URE 3 (front View), so that the rotation of the tool Will be in a direction opposite to the direction of feed of the footwear. In FIGURE 4 is shown the right end face of the tool where the contour of the helical ribs can easily be seen as presenting the rounded portion 61' facing in the direction of rotation F of the tool, ribs of this type being particularly suited for the flattening of the footwear bottom without danger of abrasion. In FIGURE 5 instead, the rounding off of the rib corners 61" is much narrower, this second type of ribs being useful both for flattening and for scraping by taking care of the pressure, the pivoting of the tool and of other details, or just for scraping.

Since the tool 53 has to operate upon the bottom of the footwear towards the fold of the upper limb, which means from the outside towards the center of same, it is necessary that feeding of the footwear itself be stopped at the correct location for a given number of passes and then returned to the initial position, then rotated in order to repeat the same operation at the side of the heel; for which purpose rack 27" comes into action, it being actuated by cylinder 28 which rotates unit 20 in order to return it to the initial position.

The oscillating and rotating movements of unit 20 (FIG. 2) are adjusted by an automatic device contained within box 87 by means of which, by acting upon handle 88 which provides three positions illustrated in sector 89, unit 20 can be oscillated only by bringing the forward portion of the bottom under the tool, or only the rear portion, or both portions with interposed rotation. A second device comprises the pushbutton assembly 90 (FIG. 11) consisting of an angular support 91 on the base plate of body 29 of unit 20 (FIG. 1), two shearlike arms 92, 93, pivoted at 91' on support 91 one at the top, the other below it, carrying each at the free end of pushbuttons 94 and 94' at right angles outwardly facing and attracted by a spring 95 stretched between them. At the end of support 91 two side enlargements 96 are provided, one facing upwardly and the other downwardly and traversed by a screw-threaded spindle 97, the inner end of which laterally contacts each arm 92, 93 so that by rotation of its handle 98 each spindle can be angularly displaced with respect to its support and therefore strike head 99 of lever 100 with a certain amount of advance or delay.

Naturally since pushbutton 94 (FIGS. 1 and 2) is associated with head 99, pushbutton 94' will act against head 99' in a similar and symmetrical manner on the lefthand side when unit 20 is rotated on its pivot 26.

Levers 100 with their heads 99 form parts of contact, numeration and distribution devices in the two boxes 101, 101 symmetrically located at the front side of the machine. Through these contacts the amount of tool con tact on the bottom of the shoe can be adjusted, namely the exact points where the contact starts and ends and also the number of passes which are to be made in one position or the other.

To box, 101 can be coupled the programming counter 102 by means of which the number of passes both of the forward portion and of the rear portion of the bottom or of just one of them can be predetermined by acting upon pushbutton 103 as many times as desired.

These adjustments permit the setting up of any particular program for pressing, flattening and roughening suitable to each type of footwear.

The unit 22 (FIGS. 2 and 12) supported by upright 19 comprises motor M on the shaft 62 of which a vibrator unit 63 is mounted with two diverging arms 64, to

each of which a tool is attached, to the upper arm a tool 65 and to the lower arm a tool 66, two boxes 67 being provided to support and guide said tools, said boxes being held between side plates 68, the inner one of which forms part of upright 19.

From FIGURES 2 and 12 to 15, it can easily be understood how tools 65 and 66 are shaped, the first One, being trapezoidally shaped in a front view, has inclined sides 65 curved, the edge along these sides rounded off and surface 65" slotted from one end to the other following the curve of sides 65, it being easy to imagine the multiplicity of concave surfaces that can be provided on this tool. The second tool 66 in a front view has a peripheral shape, almost the same as that of the first tool, sides 66' being slightly curved and the body of the piece being convex along a longitudinal line in mules back fashion so that the curves of the convex portions are also in this case numerous, so as to match any shape of the uppers.

The two tools are provided with a central fin 72 (FIGS. 13, 15) adapted to slide within the box 67 by means of the cylindrical portion 72' which contacts tangentially the two covers of box 67 and which therefore besides reducing to a minimum the friction and permitting free oscillation of the tool, also reduces to a minimum the heat conductivity of the tool being heated, for which reason the tool itself is connected to spindle 72 at only the two end portions 72" of the tool (FIG. 15).

The machine is used and operates as follows: First according to the length of the footwear position the toe support 43 by horizontal displacements of box 37 on the fixed plate 36 and by vertical displacements of bar 40 and then adjust the stroke of the piston rod of cylinder 25. According to the type of leather adjust the pressure that the tool 53 will have to exert by means of cylinder 50; schedule on the control systems 88 and 103 the number of passes necessary for each footwear both for the toe and for the heel, separated by the rotation step of assembly and its return to the resting position when the operation is completed; the footwear is then mounted by pivoting the last in pivot 32 and then by actuating the pair of cylinders 35, rod 33 rotates piece 30, thus bringing the footwear toe to rest firmly on bearing 43 with perfect settling due to the mutual mobility of pieces 41, 42 and of pivot 32; the pneumatic control system is then started and the footwear toe, by encountering the moving blade 69, located underneath the tool, causes lowering of the tool actuated by motor M and the pressure on the bottom of the footwear to be flattened; the footwear toe will pass under tool 53 the predetermined number of times, after which cylinder 28 will come into operation to rotate support 20 and will bring the heel into the position of the toe. for a predetermined number of passes which may be different from the number fixed for the forward portion; the rotating tool 53, which besides rotating will swing on pivot 76, is also adapted to swing on pivot 45; in this operation the tool, first with a rotation Opposite to the feeding direction of the footwear, and secondly due to the helical direction of the ribs, permits flattening of the unevennesses, compression of the bulging portions and taking up of eventual obstacles possibly due to the oscillation of the footwear on its supports and of the double spontaneous oscillation of the tool, while still pushing the edge of the uppers from the outside toward the inside; rotation of assembly 20 by 180 being adjusted, as far as the limit stops are concerned, by the above mentioned pushbuttons 94, 94.

At the end of the operation, the assembly 20 returns to the initial position and the operator removes the machined footwear and replaces it with another one, repeating the cycle, during which the operator will pass to the drawing machine. When the motor M thereof is started, the operator will pass to the footwear uppers of the footwear just removed on tools 65 and 66 which, due to the vibrations to which they are subjected and to be heated, behave like drawing irons over all those portions which are brought into contact with them, whether they are concave or convex.

What I claim is:

1. A machine to automatically press and flatten the bottom of footwear, with simultaneous roughening of the uppers bottom, ready for the sole glueing operation; having devices for pressing and drawing of the peripheral and upper portion of uppers, characterized in that it comprises two separate units; a flattening-scraping unit and a drawing unit to simultaneously effect two operations on two different shoes; the flattening-scraping portion comprising in combination an adjustable support for the footwear with means adapted to lock it while permitting at the same time a slight oscillation on a longitudinal axis, a pivot on said support and means adapted to rotate it by to bring the footwear into two opposite positions with respect to the tool, a lever arm carrying said pivot, provided with a horizontal pivot on which the whole assembly is adapted to swing in a vertical plane, a pivoting and rotating tool supported by a substantially horizontal bar which is itself supported by a double pivoting means permitting a restricted horizontal and vertical oscillation and supporting at the opposite end of the bar a motor; and the drawing portion comprising: a vibrator to which two arms are connected having at their ends two tapered tools with curved configurations, one of them being concave and the other being convex, said tools being provided with heating means.

2. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the support for the footwear is U-shaped, the forward limb of which carries movable members supporting the footwear at the heel end, which members are under the control of a pair of pneumatic cylinders to lock and unlock the footwear, the other limb carrying other movable members adjustable both in height and horizontally to fit them to the length of the footwear including an upper hearing on which the toe bears, said upper bearing being swingable in two directions to receive the footwear in the best position, the base of said U-shaped support being fixed to a substantially vertical pivot to rotate in a supporting sleeve, one end of said pivot being vertically toothed and meshed with a rack driven by a pneumatic cylinder to ro tate the pivot 180 about its axis.

3. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the sleeve supporting the rotating pivot is pivoted on a horizontal axis and is held in position by a downwardly extending lever arm, the end of which is pivoted to the piston rod of a cylinder.

4. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the bar supporting the rotating tool at the forward end and the motor at the rear end is provided with spring-balancing means to restrict the allowed oscillations to within the desired limits and to return the bar to its resting position, a lever blade pivoted on one of the roller supports to control the lowering of the roller and bring it into contact with the bottom of the shoe to be flattened when it is struck by the point of the shoe, the roller rising again as soon as the blade is disengaged by the toe of the shoe.

5. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the flattening tool and its support are freely pivoted; the oscillations of the tool on its pivot and of the whole tool carrier and motor assembly are restricted and dampened by a pair of opposed pushbuttons.

6. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the motor is supported on a hinged fork-shaped piece with an adjusting screw to adjust the tension of the belt.

7. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the rotating tool has a one pitch hyperboloid shape with helical ribs on its involute surface symmetrical with respect to the transverse central plane of the tool, the ribs evolving leftwardly at the righthand side and rightwardly at the left-hand side looking at the front view, while rotation thereof takes place in a direction opposite to the feeding direction of the footwear, the transverse configuration of the ribs presenting a toric surface Where the edge first encounters the footwear, the helical curve effecting displacement and flattening of the upper rim towards the bottom center.

8. The machine of claim 7, characterized in that the transverse configuration of the generally square ribs presents a slightly curved radius instead of an edge.

9. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that th swinging and rotating footwear carrier unit is provided with a device comprising two opposite pushbuttons which encounter, in the two positions that said support may assume, levers of the automated control device at each oscillation determining the extent of the oscillations themselves by micrometric adjustment of the position of each pushbutton and numeration of passes as well as stopping and rotation of the support, the automated control device being provided with programming counters by which the number of passes is established independently on each of the bottom sides, the pneumatic device controlling the support-footwear oscillations being provided with a control device having three separate steps according to the machining operations required.

10. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the longitudinal idle pivoting means of the flattening tool and of its support are located substantially in the same horizontal plane of the pivoting means of the tool, the side supports on which the tool is pivoted being fast with an upper plate provided vertically with a longitudinal fin elongated at both ends; the rear end thereof overlapping the terminal portion of the longitudinal member being flanked at right angles by two coaxial spring ushbuttons supported by two cylinders on the front end of the horizontal bar, a downwardly extending arm secured to the forward end of the fin and supporting an inclined plate which follows the curve of the tool as a safety member and which forces the roller to be raised when it is too low, thereby preventing any damage to the shoe being machined.

11. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the vertical pivotal support of the horizontal bar is provided with a protruding flange flanked at right angles by two coaxial spring push buttons.

12. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the device comprising the two pushbuttons is supported by an arm fixed to the base plate of the footwear-carrier assembly, and comprises two shears-like arms pivoted thereon, one above and the other below, each of said arms ending with a push button outwardly facing at right angles, one for each of the two positions that said support may assume, both pushbuttons being attracted by a spring tensioned therebetween, against the action of an adjustable pawl comprising two opposed screw-threaded spindles, one for each arm.

13. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the programming counters serve to establish the number of passes under the tool of one portion only of the footwear bottom, whether it is the front or the back, or of both portions with a number of passes which may be different in both cases.

14. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the pneumatic device which controls oscillation of the support-footwear is controlled by a selector device with a knob on three positions for the selection of three separate machining steps, one for the forward portion only of the bottom, one for the rear portion only, and the third one for both as well as rotation of the support between one and the other, this device cooperating with the counters which determine the number of passes.

15. The machine of claim 1, characterized in that the vibrator keyed on the shaft of a motor, transfers vibrations to the tools by means of two rigid arms to the ends of which are fastened the tools themselves, these tools being provided with flat stems adapted to slide within two fixed boxes in which the flat stems present a cylindrical enlargement which rests against the box only along two tangents of said enlargements, thus reducing to a mini mum both the friction and the heat conduction of the two tools.

16. The machine of claim 15, characterized in that with a view to increase isolation and reduce the noise, the tangential contact portions and the end portions are provided with inserts of plastic material which project by a few millimeters beyond the surface of the enlarged body.

17. The machine of claim 13, characterized in that the concave tool is of trapezoidal shape in a front view and has the major sides curved with rounded corners, and that the surface depressed from one end to the other follows the curve of the sides, thus forming a plurality of concave curved planes.

18. The machine of claim 15, characterized in that the convex tool has a shape almost equal to the first one, the two major sides being curved in a concave way and the body being convex along a longitudinal curve so that the curves of the convex portions also in this case are numerous so as to match any shape of uppers.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,693,606 11/1954 Guinn. 2,980,930 4/1961 Pearsall 12-8.3 X 3,000,024 9/1961 Hlobil et al. 128.3

PATRICK D. LAWSON, Primary Examiner. 

